US, Taliban to sign accord after planned week-long 'reduction in violence'
(VOVWORLD) - The US and the Taliban will sign an agreement next Saturday at the end of a planned week-long “reduction in violence” in Afghanistan, US officials and the Taliban said on Friday, stirring fresh hopes for an end to the protracted conflict.
US troops patrol at an Afghan National Army (ANA) Base in Logar province, Afghanistan August 7, 2018. Photo: (REUTERS/Omar Sobhani/File Photo)
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The agreement could represent a chance for peace and a pullout of thousands of US troops that have been in the country since US-led forces ousted the hardline Islamist Taliban from power in 2001.
Previous attempts at negotiating peace agreements have been scuttled by Taliban attacks on international forces, most recently in December last year when an attack on a US military base put talks on hold.
The reduction in violence, to be observed by Afghan, international and Taliban forces, began at midnight Friday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said in a televised address.